Designing a Probability Disclosure Mechanism for Loot Boxes Based on Consortium Blockchain

As predatory monetization schemes, in-game microtransactions such as loot boxes, continue to thrive in the online gaming industry, they have lured players into paying more in games, leading to concerns about addiction and resemblance to gambling caused by either the nature of a randomized reward or the malicious design. From the legal aspect, due to the difficulty of directly regulating loot boxes as gambling, legislators in various countries have tried shifting their solutions to the perspective of consumer protection and misleading advertising. However, it is hard to prove the fake probability of drawing items from loot boxes, leading inefficiency to this solution at the moment. To address this issue, we propose a mechanism to disclose and verify probabilities utilizing the features of consortium blockchain. The design of this mechanism allows players to take part in the supervision of probability disclosure altogether. It eliminates information asymmetric between players and the game developers and can be presented as a proof to help legal judgement.

I. Introduction

As the online gaming industry continues to thrive, its primary revenue source has shifted towards predatory monetization schemes such as loot boxes, which are virtual items obtained through microtransactions in online games, offering randomized rewards to players. The allure of highly desirable rewards within loot boxes, coupled with complex systems and probabilities introduced by game developers, has led to concerns over the resemblance of gambling, raising worries about excessive spending and addiction particularly among teenagers. From the perspective of psychology researchers [1], there are similarities between opening loot boxes and gambling behavior. However, from the legal aspect, legislators in various countries have struggled to classify loot boxes under existing gambling laws [2], which has led to ineffectiveness to solve the issues derived from loot boxes.